Common Pochard

The Common Pochard is a medium-sized diving duck with a distinctively rounded head profile and a sloping bill. Breeding males are strikingly patterned: a bright chestnut-red head, a black breast and tail, and a pale, finely vermiculated grey body that appears almost silvery-white at a distance, with a bright red eye adding a further splash of color.

Females are far more subdued, an overall greyish-brown with a paler face and throat, but retain the characteristic rounded head shape and sloping forehead-to-bill profile shared with other Aythya diving ducks.

Key field marks

• Rounded head with a sloping forehead merging smoothly into the bill
• Male: chestnut-red head, red eye, black breast and tail, pale grey body
• Female: greyish-brown overall with a paler face, dark eye
• Sits low in the water and dives frequently to feed

Similar species

The male Pochard's chestnut head and grey body distinguish it from similarly diving Tufted Duck (which is blackish with white flanks and a drooping crest) and Redhead (a North American look-alike with a steeper forehead).

Range

Breeds across much of Europe and temperate Asia; winters further south and west, including around the Mediterranean and in parts of Africa and southern Asia.

Habitat

Favors open freshwater lakes, reservoirs, and slow-flowing rivers with sufficient depth for diving, often with fringing vegetation for nesting.

Migration

A migratory species over most of its range, forming large wintering flocks (rafts) on suitable lakes and reservoirs; some populations are resident where winters are mild.

Behavior

A proficient diver, feeding well below the surface and often forming large, tightly packed rafts of hundreds or thousands of birds on wintering lakes.

Voice

Generally quiet; males give a wheezy, whistling call during courtship displays, while females give a harsh growling note.

Feeding

Dives to feed on aquatic plants, seeds, and small invertebrates such as mollusks and insect larvae from the lake or river bed.

Nesting and breeding

Nests on the ground close to water, well hidden in dense waterside vegetation. Lays 8-10 eggs, incubated by the female alone.